Little Brother
by Anne-Lilian
Summary: Based on the prompt: "Mordred has a toothache and the knights fawn over him." I took some artistic liberties and turned into this: Merlin knows there's something up with Mordred, and he'll do his best to find out. Fluffy knights-bonding fic.


**A/N: I was given the prompt: 'Mordred had a toothache and the knights fuss over him' from a reader, so I decided to give it my own spin. I hope you like it!**

 **Little Brother**

Something was off.

Merlin couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he could feel it. Whether it was his magic or just his instincts warning him, he didn't know, but he would find out.

Arthur and the Knights were out on a hunting expedition, which Merlin knew was just an excuse to spend time with friends without the constrictions of the court. But, of course, this meant that Merlin had to come with, because none of them could cook worth a damn. Or carry their own equipment, or saddle up their horses, or… Alright, so he was exaggerating a tad, but still.

They were still his friends, however; they were all like brothers to him. Even Mordred was growing on him, though Merlin could never forget Kilgarrah's words about the young knight's future.

"Merlin!" Gwaine shouted. The servant looked up. The others were all looking at him, so this must not have been the first time they'd called for him.

"Yes?" he asked innocently.

"With your head always in the clouds, it's amazing you haven't ridden straight into a tree," Arthur said sardonically.

Merlin grinned. "You're not giving the horse enough credit, sire," he joked.

Gwaine chuckled, but Arthur didn't look impressed. "Obviously, since it knew to stop, even though you weren't paying attention," the Prince replied, rolling his eyes.

"I asked if you were alright setting up camp here," Gwaine repeated, mirth still shining in his eyes.

"Oh, uhm, yeah, sure," Merlin said.

"I'll help," Lancelot said as he swung off the horse.

The other knights shook their heads at Merlin's absentmindedness and left their horses for Merlin to tend, while they went on a short hunt for food. It was odd, though, that Mordred kept scowling at the ground. He usually joked along with the other knights, or at least offered Merlin a sympathetic smile. What was wrong with him?

"Are you alright, Merlin?" Lancelot asked.

The warlock waved him off. "Yeah, just… a weird feeling, is all," he explained. "Does Mordred seem off to you today?"

Lancelot glanced in the direction the other knights had vanished. "I suppose he's a little more reserved than usual. Why?"

Shaking his head, Merlin turned away. "Nothing." Knowing Mordred's destiny was a heavy burden to bear, and not something he wanted to lay on his friend's shoulders. Still, he needed to find out what was going on with the youngest knight, so he muttered a spell to set up the camp quickly. "I'm going to see if the others need help. I'll be right back," he said, before going after the other knights.

The other men hadn't really gone too far, which made Merlin a little nervous about the use of magic, but they were still headed away from the camp, so that was good. He stayed a ways back, listening to their conversation.

"Come on, Mordred, cheer up, lad," Gwaine said, a grin in his voice.

"Yeah, you've been grim all morning, what's wrong?" Percival asked.

"It's nothing," the young knight insisted.

Merlin leaned around a tree and glimpsed Arthur and Leon sharing a concerned glance. "Come on, out with it, Mordred. You know those two oafs won't rest until they've found out what's got you so down," Arthur said.

Mordred hesitated.

"I bet it's a girl," Gwaine teased. "Some pretty young thing that's spurned his affections."

Percival shoved the other man's shoulder. "Come off it! He's better looking than you, why would a girl have spurned him?"

Gwaine batted his eyes at his fellow knight. "Why, Percy, I never knew you cared! And here I thought you hadn't noticed my amazing looks."

"Quit it, you two," Leon said mildly, though he, too, seemed amused at their banter. "You see, Mordred, you better tell us, or these two will come up with more and more outlandish tales," he warned playfully.

Merlin had to suppress a grin. Mordred was by far the youngest of them, so the other knights had sort of adopted him as their little brother. And with that came teasing and worrying.

Mordred, however, didn't look amused. The tips of his ears were bright red. "It's not about a girl."

"That blush says otherwise," Gwaine muttered under his breath, though of course, everyone heard him. Percival swatted him again.

"Come now, it can't be that bad. Trust me, with all the ridiculous excuses I've heard Merlin utter, it can't be more absurd," Arthur said.

Mordred was definitely blushing now. He murmured something Merlin couldn't catch. And judging by the looks on Gwaine, Percival and Leon's faces, neither had they. But Arthur on the other hand, looked torn between sympathy and amusement. "That's all?" he asked. "One would think you were about to fess up to treason with all the reluctance you were showing, and all it was is a little toothache?"

Gwaine snorted, but a look from Percival made him at least attempt to keep his laughter in. Leon, however, was looking at the young knight thoughtfully. "I hate toothaches. Give me a flesh wound any day, at least that's on the outside."

Arthur sighed, though he still had a small smile on his face. "Mordred, go back to camp, I doubt you'll be any good to us until you've had that tooth seen to," he ordered.

Suddenly, Gwaine wasn't smiling anymore. "By himself?" he asked. A second later, he looked like he wished he hadn't said that.

Rolling his eyes, Arthur crossed his arms. "He's a big boy, Gwaine, and a knight, I think he can go a ten-minute walk alone."

Gwaine's lips twitched, but he didn't say anything. Mordred simply held his hand to his jaw and started making his way back. Merlin quickly ducked behind the tree again. But Mordred hadn't gone three steps before Arthur stopped him. "Hold on!" the King said. "Leon, escort him back. It's not like we need four men to hunt some game."

Merlin rolled his eyes. Mordred really was the spoiled baby of the group. The boy in question would probably have protested, but it seemed he was a little preoccupied with the throbbing of his jaw. Merlin couldn't help but wince in sympathy. The last time he'd had a toothache, he'd felt like his jaw would fall off, and he'd only had to suffer for a few hours before Gaius got fed up with it.

Hmm, Gaius… Merlin had a thought, and quickly and quietly made his way back to camp before the two knights could catch up to him.

/*/

"Back already?" Lancelot asked when Merlin returned. He'd been stacking wood to build a fire, but paused as his friend walked into the camp again.

Merlin shrugged, looking a bit distracted. "Couldn't find them. I'll be right back," the warlock said, before running to the trees on the other end of the clearing.

Lancelot just shook his head. Merlin definitely had his quirks, and Lancelot had learned a while ago not to question them. As he went back to stacking the fire, though, he heard someone else approach the clearing. He stood up and rested his hand on his sword.

But it was only Leon and Mordred returning early from the hunt. "No game to be found?" he asked as he glanced at their empty hands.

"Arthur'll find something," Leon said. "But Mordred here has a toothache and scared more game away with that scowl of his than he would ever have been able to catch," the man teased.

 _Ah, so that's why he's been acting strangely,_ Lancelot thought. "Well, then he can watch me stack firewood. It's fascinating, I promise," he joked.

Leon chuckled. "I'll go get some more firewood," he said.

The older knight made his way out of the clearing again, which left Mordred to sit on the log Lancelot had dragged over earlier. The boy was looking around the camp curiously.

"Merlin's gone out, I think he went to collect water," Lancelot said, amused. Mordred obviously looked up to the servant, though for some reason, Merlin didn't seem to like the boy very much. Not that he was outwardly hostile or mean or anything like that; it was still Merlin, after all. But the young warlock definitely kept his distance, for whatever reason.

Shaking his head, Lancelot went back to building the fire, retrieving his flint to set it ablaze.

/*/

It took Merlin a while, but he eventually found it. He'd had to go back and fetch water as well, and by the time he got back to camp, the other knights were just returning from their hunt with a few rabbits for the servant to cook. Of course, none of them would be doing the skinning.

Merlin set the water by the fire, and asked Leon to set the rabbits aside. Then, he made his way over to Mordred while the others made themselves comfortable around the fire. The young knight looked up when the servant stopped in front of him. "Chew on this, when they're soft, keep them under your tongue," Merlin instructed as he handed over some leaves.

Mordred frowned, but took the leaves. "What are they?"

Leaning closer, Merlin allowed himself a self-deprecating smile. "I may not be very good at healing magic, but I've picked up some things from Gaius," he whispered. "Those'll make your mouth go numb. It'll give you some relief until you can go see the physician." Then he grinned a little teasingly. "Of course, you'll also not be able to taste a single thing for another day or so, but at least you won't be in any pain."

The boy frowned at the leaves. "How did you know?" he asked.

Merlin tapped the side of his nose. "I have my ways. Now start chewing!" he said, before retreating to the edge of the clearing to skin the rabbits. He watched as Mordred put the leaves in his mouth. The boy made a face at the flavour, but started chewing regardless. Soon enough he wouldn't be able to taste them anymore anyway.

Alright, so Merlin wasn't Mordred's biggest fan, but just maybe he could be suspicious of the boy, while also making sure he didn't forget his cloak and didn't suffer too much pain. After all, Mordred was his 'little brother'.

 **FIN**


End file.
